All That You Are (A Captain Swan Halloween Fic)
by morecolorfulmoniker
Summary: Some time after their arrival back in Storybrooke after saving Henry in Neverland, Emma decides to show Killian one of her favorite Halloween traditions. (Rating subject to change.)
1. Chapter 1

"This is madness."

"I thought pirates were fearless."

"Does it say that in your lad's book? Or perhaps in the ridiculous stories your world tells of me and my time in Neverland?"

"No, it's just general knowledge. Pirates sail the seas, pillaging and plundering and generally engaging in duels with…well, everyone. You'd think that something like this would be met without hesitation. Stop being a baby, Captain," she teased, earning her a roll of his eyes.

"I'm simply pointing out that we could be making better use of our time," he said with a pat on her rear that she quickly swatted away, letting a giggle escape her lips. "While Henry is out with the Queen…what did you say he was doing?"

"Trick or treating. On Halloween, kids dress up in costumes and go door to door to get candy," Emma explained, unable to hide the smile on her face at his confusion.

"Doesn't the lad have enough candy? He's always consuming foods I find to be made entirely of sugar. How have his teeth remained intact?"

"Says the pirate whose diet consisted entirely of rum and…oh, rum…for hundreds of years," Emma replied with her own eye roll. "It's about the excitement of the holiday…dressing up and becoming someone else, someone you always dreamed of being but never could…it's actually ironic," she added after a moment, chuckling to herself as Killian tilted his head in curiosity.

"I fail to see the irony in that, Love."

"Well, most of the time, kids in this world dress up as the people who live in this town. Because they represent a world that is only supposed to exist in their imaginations. And we're here, celebrating by letting our own kids, who are a part of that world, dress up as the characters that they pass on the street every day…their teachers, their friends, their family." Sensing a hint of sobriety in her tone, he reached out and took her hand, entwining his fingers with hers.

"Who did you dress as? When you were a little girl?" he asked. Slowly, he'd been learning more about Emma's past…who she was before she came to Storybrooke. Regardless of the pain that she had faced, more than Killian could even begin to imagine, her past was a part of her…a part that Killian longed to know…to understand.

"You'd laugh if I told you," she said, shrugging off his question with a halfhearted smile.

"Have I ever been anything but a gentleman to you, Emma Swan?"

"That's debatable, Captain," she replied as he feigned a look of hurt.

"Why don't you try me and find out?" he challenged as she sighed and took a few steps ahead of him as they continued to walk down the long dirt road.

"Well, I mostly made my own costumes. None of the foster families I had seemed to care too much about buying a costume that I would only wear once. But Halloween was always my favorite holiday because I could be anyone that I wanted…I could get away from all the crap…even if it was just in my imagination," she said, her eyes trained on the ground as Killian sped up to walk next to her again, taking her hand in his. "But there was one year…I was about 8. I remember begging them to let me dress up until they finally gave in, probably just so I wouldn't bug them about it anymore, and I was obsessed with a particular movie at that time, so I just _had_ to be one of the characters." When Killian remained silent, Emma took a deep breath and continued. "I was, sort of…Tinker Bell." She closed her eyes, bracing herself for his reaction as the realization hit him. He didn't laugh…because the mere thought of Emma…his Emma…wanting to escape the life that she had in order to trade lives with anyone caused an ache in his heart. "I had the blonde hair and the dress went with my eyes, so it actually worked out in my favor," Emma continued when Killian still said nothing. "Anyone in there?" she asked, stopping in the middle of the road and turning to meet his eyes, searching his gaze for his reaction.

"I imagine your beauty would have drawn a considerable amount of envy from the real Tinker Bell," he said softly, reaching up to tuck a loose strand of her hair back behind her ear. "And who would you be now, Love? If you could be someone else." Without hesitation, she answered, as if she'd been considering her response for a long time.

"I wouldn't choose to be anyone but myself. I wanted to escape for so long. The life I had…it sucked. And even when Henry showed up and tried to convince me that I was meant for this fairy tale life, something anyone who ever dreamed of happily ever after should jump at the chance to have, I pushed it away because I was afraid. I've never known what it feels like to have a family…to be…happy. Until right now. Every day is a new chapter of this messed up fairy tale that we're all a part of, but I wouldn't want it any other way." He leaned in to kiss her suddenly, his own flood of emotions taking over as she returned the kiss, pressing herself against his chest where they fit perfectly together.

"I love you, Emma Swan. I love you for all that you are…" he trailed off for a moment as they both continued down the path that didn't seem to lead anywhere. "…which is precisely why I'm here with you, entirely unsure of what we're doing out in the middle of nowhere on your favorite holiday when we could certainly be finding creative things to do with candy…and costumes," he added with a wink.

"As intriguing as that idea is, this is one experience that you need to have, if only because I want to see your reaction," she teased, her mouth so close to his that he leaned in to close the distance only to meet her cheek as she turned with a smirk and left him standing as she continued down the road, turning back to face him with a devilish grin that would rival even his most villainous of expressions. "And there will be plenty of time for creative activities later. And the faster we reach our destination…" she trailed off with a wink, holding out her hand as he trotted forward to take it and they started down the road.

"Perhaps I'll like this…Halloween…after all."


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok, so major apologies for this being so ridiculously late after Halloween, but I am the slowest writer ever because my muse is always wanting to write a million other things which is also why multi-chapter fics are going to be my ultimate downfall. I'm a little sad because I had plans to continue this and make it a bit longer, but alas, Halloween is now over and apparently my muse felt like ending it tonight, so I sat down and started writing, struggled a little at first to get the inspiration going, and then I think it ended pretty well, so I hope you all enjoy and I certainly hope you're not disappointed in what the secret Halloween experience was because this was always one of my favorite things to do around Halloween time when I was younger!**

"I still think you're mad, Love," Killian said when they finally reached the end of the dirt road.

"Part of Halloween is being scared, but in a good way. It's like an adrenaline rush," Emma said with an ever-growing smile before adding with a raise of her eyebrow: "I know, you prefer to do other, more enjoyable activities."

"If it makes you happy, I prefer to do this," he answered, his blue eyes bright with a look that Emma had become all too familiar with, though it never failed at taking her breath away. She'd never had anyone in her life who put her first…who cared about her happiness. But to her own constant surprise, Killian proved the exception to the only rule she had ever known.

"I love you," she said, pressing a quick kiss to his lips before taking his hand and pulling him towards the entrance.

"So there are…people…with weapons…hidden among these crops?" Killian asked as he took several cautious steps inside, his fingers intertwined with Emma's.

"It's a haunted corn maze. Just go with it," Emma replied as Killian wrapped his hook around a stalk of corn, eyeing it suspiciously. "The weapons look real, but they're only meant to scare you…and it's in a maze so that you can't see them coming. Technically, the point is to find your way out before you encounter any of them, but the fun of it is that they rig it so that's impossible."

"So no matter what, we lose?"

"It's not win or lose. It's just…hard to explain, I guess. You'll see," Emma said as they reached their first fork. "Which way?" Killian glanced down one path, leading further into the ever-growing darkness as the sun dipped below the horizon, before spinning on his heels and casting his gaze back down the opposite path, lit with a path of artificial lights hanging from the stalks.

"This way," he said, pointing his hook towards the darker path with a smirk.

"I like the way you think," Emma said, leading the way.

They walked in silence for several minutes, Killian scanning the deeper parts of the maze for any movement while Emma chose to enjoy his reaction to the experience, anxious for the first moment when…..

Suddenly, the roar of a chainsaw filled the silence as a man in a hockey mask jumped out from behind the pair. Killian turned first, eyes wide, his hand instinctively going for his sword before he realized that he no longer wore it and that the man wasn't actually a threat. Emma squealed with a combination of fear and delight, grabbing hold of Killian's hook and pulling him away from the pursuing scarer. As they ran around a nearby corner, the man suddenly stopped and, walking backwards with his eyes still trained directly on them, disappeared into the maze.

"Where did he go?" Killian asked curiously, squinting his eyes as if to regain visual contact.

"They're supposed to stay in certain areas of the maze, spread out," Emma explained, her smile so bright it seemed to light the darkness around them. "What did you think of your first scare?"

But just as Killian opened his mouth to answer, a blunt machete fell with a crash between them, causing them both to jump back in fear as the masked man wielding it sliced the air around them. This time it was Killian who wrapped his arms around Emma's waist, lifted her off the ground, and carried her off into the darkness, not bothering to look as the thundering footsteps of the maniac with the machete chased them down. The sound was soon drowned out, however, by Emma's hysterical laughter, the loudest and most joyful Killian had ever heard it, as he finally came to a stop apparently just beyond their fake attacker's territory. He had stopped several feet away, as if held back by some impenetrable force, and rather than return to his original post, he remained there, slashing his machete at the two of them.

"Bit of friendly advice, mate," Killian said as he held up his hook, holding it out so that the machete just barely missed hitting it. "You might want to sharpen your blade a bit."

Emma burst into another fit of uncontrollable laughter as the man finally retreated, mumbling something about "Halloween costumes looking more and more realistic every year".

"I think I've got the hang of this, now, Love. What other less-than-terrifying villains might we encounter tonight?" he asked, brandishing his hook with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. Before he could look to Emma for a reaction or an answer, however, her lips were on his, her hands gripping tightly to the more modern leather jacket she had picked out as a part of his "real world wardrobe," as she called it. With just a second's worth of shocked hesitation, Killian deepened the kiss, his fingers tangling in her windblown curls. Expecting her to pull back at any second and suggest that they continue on their way and that there'd be time for more advanced activities later, he was shocked to find Emma tugging on his jacket so that they stumbled together clumsily off of the marked path of the maze and into a thicket of corn stalks, sliding her own dark blue leather jacket off of her arms once there. Knowing what reaction it would garner, Killian allowed his hook to latch onto the fabric of her thick white sweater, sliding it slowly up her chest as he pulled his lips from hers and pressed them to her neck. The second that the warmth of his lips combined with the coolness of the metal of his hook touched her skin and the soft moan escaped Emma's lips, Killian couldn't help but grin at his own success before he allowed his lips to crash against hers once again.

Suddenly, a scream from directly behind them sent them both tripping over each other and falling to the ground, Emma landing on top of Killian with a hard thud. They both quickly turned to find the source of the scream, a young girl, probably around Henry's age, surrounded by a group of boys around the same age, as well.

"A hook? Cool! Last year, all they had was the same old weapons they always use," one of the boys said as they caught sight of Killian's hook shining in the darkness, the moonlight hitting it just right.

"And an actual staged attack from the guy with the hook? Awesome!" another one of the boys said as the group continued down the path, all of them sharing their excitement about the "new addition" to the corn maze.

Killian and Emma, meanwhile, turned to glance at each other, their cheeks both bright red with embarrassment, before losing themselves in a frenzy of laughter that had them rolling together on the ground. When they finally caught their breaths and recovered, Emma sat up as Killian remained lying down, his eyes fixed on her.

"What are you looking at?" she asked after a moment, faking annoyance as best she could, though she couldn't seem to hide the smile on her face.

"You are so beautiful," he said softly.

"For one, everyone looks better in the dark, _and_ there are leaves in my hair. I don't think beautiful is the word you're looking for," she said with a playful roll of her eyes as he suddenly sat up and reached up to pull one of the leaves from her hair.

"For the record, you will always be the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on, no matter the lighting or what you may have in your hair. And it isn't just your outward appearance that I find beautiful, Emma," he said, tilting her chin up so that their eyes met, his the deepest blue and hers the brightest green, two lights shining in the darkness. "It's your laugh, a sound I thought I knew quite well but that I felt as if I heard for the very first time again tonight. And your spontaneity…no matter how convinced I am of the choices you'll make, you are a mystery that I will never quite solve but one that I will spend my life dedicated to deciphering. I love every bit of you, exactly who you are, who you were, and who you will become."

"All that I am?" Emma asked, her eyes glistening as a single tear traced a path down her cheek that Killian quickly kissed away.

"All that you are," he answered softly.


End file.
